Chapter 313: The Cold and Heat of the Market

Hisada Kenichi was somewhat tempted by Nishijima Sota’s invitation.

But being tempted did not mean he would agree immediately.

After all, he had spent a great deal of effort to climb to the position of section chief at a giant company like Tokyo Publishing and Sales.

If he left, everything he had done before would undoubtedly be in vain, and he would have to start all over again.

Therefore, he still needed to see exactly what Nishijima Sota had in mind.

Nishijima Sota was not surprised; if he could easily recruit a capable assistant just by painting a pretty picture, he wouldn't have had to go to the trouble of inviting him in person.

He nodded and said, "We want to build our own distribution system, so we need the contact information and data for bookstores in every region of Japan."

In the Japanese archipelago, there are about 30,000 bookstores.

Although a warehousing system could be built in the future by establishing bookstores, if these bookstore operators did not know they could sell directly due to an information gap, then the effort would still be in vain.

That was why he had taken the initiative to poach from Tokyo Publishing and Sales, attempting to obtain contact information from their employees.

Besides that, he also wanted to use Hisada Kenichi’s status to dispel some of the concerns held by bookstore managers.

"Would this involve trade secrets?"

Hisada Kenichi hesitated; he didn't want to be sued by Tokyo Publishing and Sales right after jumping ship.

Nishijima Sota laughed.

"Section Chief Hisada, so-called trade secrets, while including client lists, require that the information not be known to the public. But do you think the list of bookstores you know is something the public doesn't know?"

He paused and added, "What we hope for even more is that you can help Tsutaya Books further improve interpersonal communication with bookstore managers in various regions."

Upon hearing this, Hisada Kenichi immediately understood his greatest value.

In Japanese society, many bookstores prefer to work with only one long-term distributor or a few publishers.

Therefore, even if Tsutaya Books were to rashly reach out to these bookstores for cooperation, they might face many "closed doors."

But if he could join Tsutaya Books, he could help them communicate smoothly with these bookstores, thereby reducing the difficulty of their outreach.

Nishijima Sota continued, "Regarding income, Tsutaya Books will not let you suffer a loss. In addition to a guaranteed annual salary of 9 million yen, there will be bonuses at the end of the year based on performance."

This so-called bonus was something he and Akiwara Yuto had decided to implement after discussion.

After all, if you want a horse to run fast, you have to feed it well first.

And compared to the role Hisada Kenichi would play, this money was just a number.

In fact, Nishijima Sota was not just eyeing Hisada Kenichi alone. In order to expand the national market as quickly as possible, he was also preparing to poach people from another publishing and sales company.

After hearing the conditions, Hisada Kenichi couldn't help but purse his lips.

Staying at a giant like Tokyo Publishing and Sales meant a stable job and salary, but there were too many senior employees above him; he might have to wait until he was over 50 to reach the position of deputy department head or department head.

And his current salary was only a mere 6 million yen or so per year.

Compared to the conditions offered by Tsutaya Books, it was undoubtedly far inferior.

Watching the other man's expression, Nishijima Sota raised an eyebrow, and the corners of his mouth curled up involuntarily.

He knew he had almost convinced him!

While Nishijima Sota was busy poaching people to build a distribution network, the subsequent reaction caused by the restricted sales of the book "Snow Country" had affected quite a few people.

From Tokyo to Hokkaido, from Kyoto to Osaka, readers everywhere could not buy the book.

Some people even ran to 10 bookstores only to hear that it was out of stock.

Usually, if only a few readers reported that it was out of stock, bookstores would not be too deliberate about pursuing the ordering issue.

But "Snow Country" had frequently appeared in newspapers and news due to massive exposure and had received unanimous praise from many critics, to the point that many readers were interested and intended to buy it to see for themselves.

In many bookstores, there might be over 30 people coming to ask in a single day.

This was not a small number; after all, given the Japanese national character of not wanting to trouble others, many readers might just walk away if they looked around and found it out of stock.

They might even think that the bookstore's selection was not complete, and might not even come back next time.

Therefore, many bookstores were forced to call the two distributors, Tokyo Publishing and Sales and Japan Publishing and Sales, and some even had their phones blown up.

But the feedback they received was always: "Sorry, it's currently out of stock!"

During this period, bookstores that had the book in stock undoubtedly became "hot commodities."

Taking Tokyo as an example, the more than one hundred physical bookstores that had signed direct sales agreements with Tsutaya Books sold out their entire inventory of "Snow Country" in 4 days and gained a large influx of new customers.

Other bookstores without direct sales partnerships could only watch the foot traffic walk away.

However, prompted by some "well-meaning people," other bookstores in Tokyo also approached Tsutaya Books one by one, hoping to establish direct sales business.

By the end of December, 800 bookstores in Tokyo had already contacted Tsutaya Books directly to order "Snow Country," with each bookstore ordering anywhere from 50 to 400 copies.

From this batch of orders alone, "Snow Country" sold 80,000 copies.

However, what was somewhat disappointing was that bookstores outside of Tokyo only had scattered orders.

After all, in the eyes of these local bookstore owners, if there was no distributor acting as a financial intermediary, they would have to travel to Tokyo first and pay a deposit to Tsutaya Books to obtain the books.

If they were only ordering fewer than 100 copies, the travel expenses might be equivalent to the net profit.

Besides that, logistics costs from Tokyo to other regions were very expensive, so if they ordered directly, the bookstores might have to bear the shipping costs themselves.

However, although the costs were high, bookstores could not transfer the costs to readers by raising prices.

After all, bookstores implemented a consignment pricing system, meaning all bookstores in the country had to sell according to the prices set by the publisher.

Under these concerns, most bookstore operators outside of Tokyo felt that buying "Snow Country" from Tsutaya Books was a losing business, so they lost interest in approaching Tsutaya Books.

By the last day of December, Tsutaya Books' commercial map across Japan had formed two distinct parts.

On one side was the bustling local market in Tokyo, which could already completely bypass the two companies, Tokyo Publishing and Sales and Japan Publishing and Sales, to form its own sales network, completing the initial requirements.

On the other side was the lukewarm market in other regions, where only a few cities near Tokyo had sent in some inquiry calls or orders.

But by the beginning of January, Tsutaya Books, having already poached some personnel, began further layout targeting the regional markets...